Fact or Fiction?

With summer beginning and my shoulders still feeling the relief of the finals burden being lifted, I’m taking a break from my normal columnist duties and assuming Discovery Channel’s.

Let’s go mythbusting.

We constantly hear the generalizations describing a reason for the outcome of a sporting event or a stereotype pertaining to a type of team or athlete.

As Midwesterners, we own a special set of these cliches, whether it’s what seems to be the irreversible curse of the Chicago Cubs or Notre Dame football’s deceiving schedule year in and year out.

Reverse the curse

The curse of the billy goat has taken the fall for the Chicago Cubs’ 101-year (and counting) World Series title drought.

In 1945, Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis was asked to remove his pet goat from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field due to its foul odor. An infuriated Sianis said the Cubs wouldn’t win anymore. Call him an outraged fan, but we can’t argue his prediction.

Arguing the curse is quite the contrary. Black cats and selfish fans labeled byproducts of the curse, but throughout all the hype and pandemonium, the physical and, more importantly, the mental aspects of the game hold true.

Just five outs away from the 2003 World Series, Cubs fans across the country could feel the end of the drought. Stars like Kerry Wood, a juiced-up, slammin’ Sammy Sosa and ace Mark Prior headlined the Cubs’ best team since its 1984 club, which also reached the National League Championship Series.

An absent-minded, careless mistake began the momentum shift that probably cost the Cubs their first title in 95 years. The myth advocator would say I’m referring to fan Steve Bartman snagging a foul ball from left fielder Moises Alou, when in reality it was shortstop Alex Gonzalez bobbling a routine ground ball that started the Florida Marlins’ comeback.

Justification? The only thing professional athletes might be better at than their respective skills is tuning out the crowd. The snag understandably aggravated Alou, but what fan would not have gone for the ball? Gonzalez’s seventh-inning fumble should have been a gift, inching the Cubs closer to the pennant. Instead, a lack of experience understandably got inside the heads of the young team. If it happened to the Marlins, would we have conjured up a curse for them?

There are no easy games in South Bend

Each year, the Fighting Irish football enthusiast who uses championships won before he or she was born as defense for the current “prominence” of Notre Dame football also speaks of how grueling it is to not have a conference schedule. The harsh reality is that the Golden Dome may not be so golden anymore.

Sure, Notre Dame faces perennial powerhouse University of Southern California each year and throws in that of a Penn State, Tennessee, Georgia Tech or Florida State every so often. If my math serves me right, that makes up just under 17 percent of the schedule. Sorry, Irish fans, beating a storied Michigan program that has won two bowl games in its last seven attempts and won just three games this past season doesn’t count.

A 10-2 record almost guarantees Charlie’s Army a Bowl Championship Series bid, while most other teams around the country need a record of at worst 11-1. Exposure, a second-to-none fan base and high revenue that comes with selecting the Fighting Irish makes them irresistible. Aside from a lack of team speed, depth and blowing double-digit, second-half leads, it’s the home losses to the likes of a winless Syracuse team, Navy and Air Force that send Notre Dame back to frigid South Bend prior to New Year’s Day.

The bottom line

Even though mythbusting is an off-the-field operation, it’s almost always on-the-field matters that prove to be the difference.